St Patrick's Day - What does it mean to be Irish? #StPatricksDay

Happy St Patrick's Day!

At 7.30 this morning three drunks passed by our house on the other side of the street. One was vomiting very loudly in between telling his two mates "I'm so sick". I guess he won't be the first Irish person to get sick today! Taoiseach Enda Kenny rejects the "stage Irish" image that people abroad have of us that Irish culture is synonymous with alcohol. He has rejected Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's awkward message to Irish people in which he describes St Patrick's Day as the one day when "it's good to be green". Here's Mr Abbott's message - judge for yourself:

I like being Irish. I was born and reared in Ireland. I've lived and worked in Ireland all my life. I will die in Ireland. I have never ever been ashamed of being Irish. I am a proud Irish man, and today is our National Day. I had a great giggle at Jennifer O'Connell's article in Monday's Irish Times on 37 signs that you might be Irish. In particular I loved these ones:

• There’s nothing that can’t be cured by either flat 7Up or Sudocrem
• Grievances are measured in units of 800 years
• You have a Bono story
• When people of other nationalities ask you if you speak “Gaelic”, the only phrase that comes to mind is “An bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas?"
• If Tom Cruise walked into the pub, you’d let on you hadn’t a notion who he was
• You think there should be something about the immersion in this list